A Safety Message from President Kim Bottomly

To the Wellesley College Community:

Safety is, and must be, a primary consideration in every campus activity. Wellesley College is committed to reducing or eliminating risks to the health and safety of its students, employees, and visitors. One area of increasing concern is the illnesses, injuries, and property damage resulting from unsafe practices and conditions. In this area, Wellesley's commitment to health and safety can be successful only if individual members of the community do their part by accepting responsibility for developing and practicing safety awareness.

Unsafe conditions should be reported and corrected. Procedures devised for handling hazardous situations and materials should be followed conscientiously. Directors, managers, and supervisors are responsible for the safety of faculty, staff, and students and should take appropriate precautions against hazards associated with the activities they oversee. Faculty members are similarly responsible for the safety of students while in their classes and should emphasize safe practices and conditions in courses which involve potentially hazardous situations. All College personnel and students are responsible for the safety of visitors to our campus and should always take appropriate and necessary steps to protect them from known hazards. All members of the College community must accept responsibility for their safety and the safety of those around them.

The elimination or reduction of illness, injury, and property damage related to unsafe practices is thus a cooperative effort and an important one. The College has a moral obligation to ensure the physical welfare of our students, employees, and visitors; a legal obligation to satisfy the ever increasing number of federal, state, and local statutes relating to institutional health and safety; and a fiscal obligation to reduce expenditures resulting from accidents. Only if safety is practiced by all, can Wellesley meet these obligations and provide a safe and healthy environment for the members of this community.